


Every Dog Has Its Day

by trashpup



Series: The Life of a Puppy [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Abusive Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxious Carlos de Vil, Carlos de Vil Needs a Hug, Carlos de Vil-centric, Chocolate, Cinnamon Roll Carlos de Vil, Collars, Domestic Fluff, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil as Found Family, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, M/M, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Pet Names, Pet Store, Physical Abuse, Protective Evie (Disney), Protective Jay (Disney), Protective Mal (Disney), Puppy Love, United States of Auradon (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22118623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashpup/pseuds/trashpup
Summary: Sequel toAnd They Call It Puppy LoveTW: Contains mentions and descriptions of abuse and self harm.Carlos is still learning a lot about life, especially since he never was allowed to have one, always living behind his mother. With Evie, Jay, and Mal in his life now, he gets to experience the ups and downs of growing up with a curse in the safety of his protectors.
Relationships: Evie & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Mal (Disney), Evie/Carlos de Vil, Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil, Evie/Mal (Disney), Jay & Carlos De Vil, Jay/Carlos de Vil, Mal & Carlos de Vil, Mal/Carlos de Vil
Series: The Life of a Puppy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592089
Comments: 7
Kudos: 86





	1. Every Dog Has Its Day

**Author's Note:**

> i am SO sorry this is so long. i didn't mean to make it so long, but i'm already planning a third part to this, if it does well... 
> 
> hope you enjoy!

Back on the Isle, Carlos would get the bones from the meat Cruella ate. He was allowed to chew on the bones and that would be his meal for the following three or four days. He managed to make it last more, just in case. He also managed to sharpen a bone into a makeshift knife the first time Cruella took away his pocket-knife. She ultimately gave it back, but Carlos wasn’t allowed in his treehouse for the next two weeks as a punishment for having a weapon. 

Carlos was resourceful on the Isle, he made sure he had enough food to last him for days on end. He did the same thing in Auradon when they first arrived, Jay would smell spoiled food and have to dig out half eaten sandwiches, open crisp bags, carrot sticks, chocolate bar wrappers, and so much more. Jay had to sit down with Carlos and tell him that they were able to get food three times a day, and there were vending machines all around campus that they could get snacks from. He told Carlos that he didn’t have to hide food anymore. Carlos thought he had learned everything there was to know about food and food etiquette in Auradon. 

Now, almost an entire year of living in Auradon, Carlos was still finding out about new things, both about himself and about the world around him. He learned a little over two weeks ago that he didn’t have to eat meat and he swore to himself (as well as Jay, Mal, and Evie) that he would never eat meat again. He figured out that it wasn’t essential to eat, so he made the choice and stuck with it. 

This was a fight the four of them had for nearly two weeks now, Carlos simply refusing to eat meat all of a sudden. Jay had told the girls that Carlos refused to eat the meat on his plate and Mal tried to force feed him. Evie was the one that asked him nicely to eat his food. Carlos had turned up his nose at the meat, telling everyone that he wouldn’t, and there was nothing that they could do about it. 

“Pup, why aren’t you eating?” Evie sat next to him at the table, running her fingers down the side of his face. He was shifting uncomfortably in his chair, not making eye contact with her. It was new, she was one of the only people that he felt comfortable enough to make eye contact with. “Carlos, answer me.” Carlos jolted, hearing Evie’s “mom voice” for the first time in a long time. He looked up at her, his eyes welling up with tears that threatened to spill.

“I don’t wanna eat meat, it’s mean,” his voice was soft, his bottom lip trembling as he held back his tears. He quickly looked away from Evie, not wanting to see her reaction because she had made the dinner and had spent a long time making it how Carlos liked it, and now he refused to eat it. 

Evie lifted his head up, forcing him to look at her. She told him that it was okay if he didn’t want to eat meat, he just had to tell her and she could make him something that he did want to eat. He tried to convince himself that they weren’t like Cruella, they weren’t going to hurt him. 

He knew that he had no reason to keep things from her, or from Mal or Jay, but he still did, out of habit. He was trying to be better, but he had his moments where he went back to hiding everything instead of talking to his friends. No matter how many times Jay, Evie, and Mal all told him, he would never believe that they wouldn’t hurt him. Cruella would do the same thing, she would tell him that she never meant him any harm; that he was her one and only puppy, then pull on his ears and tell him that he would never be the puppy she wanted. 

Evie had moved her hand up and down, ghosting over his jawline while he stared at his lap, unable to look Evie in the eyes. She continued to run her hand up and down his face, trying to let him know that he was okay. Normally, he would lean into her hand and allow her to run her fingers through his hair. 

_“Puppies do not have these little ears, they have cute little floppy ears. Your ears are not. You have far too many flaws,” Cruella spit. She yanked on his ears, forcing him to his knees in front of her. Carlos yelped at the tug on his ear. Cruella smacked him, yelling at him to shut up and behave. She grabbed a fistful of his hair, inspecting near his scalp, looking for fleas that he might’ve picked up in his dog house. “You’re filthy, and you’ve got fleas.”_

_She pulled him into the backyard by his hair as he squirmed and cried, trying to get away from her. She didn’t let go until she got him to the edge of the tub. It was filled with freezing cold water, which would make Carlos freeze even more than he already way. She stripped him of all his clothes and yanked him hard enough that he toppled over into the tub by himself. He let out a shriek and flailed in the water before catching his balance._

_“Don’t get out until I come back for you,” she threatened, yelling over his pathetic cries and failed attempts to scramble out of the bath. She turned on her heel and went back inside the house without a glance back at him._

“Carlos? Are you okay?” Evie’s voice flooded into his head and he shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts of his mother out of his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about the first time Cruella had forced the flea collar around his neck after nearly freezing him to death in the bath. He was breathing heavily, his eyes squeezed shut, mumbling nonsense to himself, desperately trying to calm himself down, to no avail.

Evie grabbed his hand again and rubbed her thumb against his. He tore his hand away, whimpering at the contact. He pushed his chair back and ran from the table all the way upstairs. Evie let out a sigh and decided not to pursue him, letting him take the steps he needed to calm himself down, knowing that it was better to give him space than to push him. She took his plate and silverware into the kitchen where Jay was washing his own dishes. 

“He finally eat his dinner?” Jay asked, hearing Evie walk in and set the plate down. He didn’t turn around, knowing that she would give an update on Carlos, whether he asked or not. Evie was good at keeping everyone up to date on everything going on with everyone else, especially Carlos. 

“No. He’s decided that he doesn’t want to eat meat anymore. Then, after he told me that, he shut down and ran upstairs, probably to his room,” Evie rubbed her temples, leaning up against the counter next to Jay. The dishes clattered in the sink, Jay looked over at her with a look of bewilderment on his face. He couldn’t believe Carlos would just run away from her like that. It’s one thing if Carlos ran away from him or Mal, but Evie was new. 

“I’ll go see if I can find out what’s wrong,” he dried off his hands and started towards the stairs, listening for any sounds from the room he and Carlos shared. When he heard none, he quietly opened the door, thinking that Carlos would be curled up on his blankets as he usually was. 

When he didn’t immediately see Carlos he started calling for him. He looked in the bathroom and under both beds. He looked in his own closet as well as Carlos’. The boy was nowhere to be found. He whistled to try and see if that would get Carlos’ attention. 

“Pup, where are you?” Jay walked out of their room and started walking down the hall towards the girl’s room. He knocked quietly on the door before hearing Mal’s voice giving him the okay to come in. 

“Jay, what happened? He came in here in tears and just curled up by me. Didn’t say a word,” Mal hissed - her voice low so she wouldn’t disrupt Carlos - and glared at him, thinking that Jay might’ve done something. 

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Evie, he ran from her, not me. All I know is that he refused to eat his dinner and then Evie talked to him and then he ran,” Jay sat on Evie’s bed, staring at the boy that was curled up in a tight ball. Jay focused on the slight movements Carlos made, ready to take care of him at the first sign of trouble.

“That’s new, he never runs from her,” Mal looked down at Carlos, her eyebrows knitted together, concerned. Jay nodded in agreement, standing up and moving to sit on Mal’s bed, right next to Carlos. 

“Something else has to be going on, he doesn’t just regress like this without reason,” Jay set a hand on Carlos’s shoulder, rubbing gently. He stopped and removed his hand when he saw Carlos flinch away and start trembling. 

“Carlos, can you tell us what’s going on?” Mal asked, she kept her voice quiet as she was talking to him, making sure she wasn’t touching him since he was trembling already, knowing that a new feeling would freak him out more.

Carlos felt bad for shutting down on Evie, but there was no way he could tell her that she touched his ear on accident and it reminded him of Cruella pulling on his ears. It would shatter her; he knows that they all hate when something reminds him of Cruella. They hated how she treated him. They hated that they couldn’t do more for him. 

“Pup, do you just want to rest right now?” Jay asked, slowly starting to rub Carlos’ shoulder again, waiting for him to flinch again. When he didn’t flinch, Jay moved his hand down to Carlos’ hand and held on gently. “Can you give me one squeeze for ‘yes’ and two for ‘no?’”

_One squeeze._

“Okay, you get some rest, you’ve got Mal right here with you, I’ve got to go help Evie in the kitchen, but we’ll be right back up,” Jay gave his hand one more squeeze before letting go and standing up. Carlos let his arm go limp after Jay let go, not moving it back to his body. 

He was definitely not feeling like himself, usually when he would fall asleep he would start out fully curled up, never allowing any of his limbs to stray away from his body. It was due to the fear that Cruella instilled in him, the paranoia of her snatching him away from his mattress and abuse him when he wasn’t expecting it. 

∆

“C, wake up, we’ve got to get ready for class,” Mal ran a hand through his hair before ruffling the curls. She managed to slip out from under Carlos, who had ended up spread eagle on the bed, half on top of her, and half on her bed through the night. “You know, for being so small, you managed to take up nearly the entire bed.” She laughed and went into the bathroom to start getting ready for the day. 

Mal could hear Carlos whine, presumably still laying in bed. She smiled to herself before remembering the events from the night before, her smile quickly replaced with a frown. The more she thought about it, the more she remembered and the more upset she got. She wasn’t upset with Carlos, she was upset with how Cruella treated him and the lasting effects it had on him. 

Carlos would usually be the first one up and the first one ready, but he didn’t have his phone, nor did he have his backpack or a change of clothes. He would have enough time to shower if Mal didn’t take too long in the bathroom. It wasn’t like he would want to anyway, Evie had dry shampoo that she could use for his hair and they had an extra toothbrush for the boys when they fell asleep in their room, even though their own room was just down the hall.

Mal was in and out of the bathroom in record time, allowing Carlos to take as much time as he needed. Carlos slowly stood up and went into the bathroom to start his own routine. She sat down on her bed and texted Evie to bring Carlos clean clothes as well as his backpack and within a minute, Evie opened the bedroom door with his bag and clothes in her hands, a small smile danced on her lips.

“How’s he doing?” she asked, obviously out of breath. Mal shrugged, not looking up from her phone. Evie rolled her eyes and set Carlos’ bag down by the door and knocked on the bathroom door. “Carlos? Can I come in?” 

Evie heard the lock unlock, which was Carlos’ way of telling people that it was okay to come in. She set his clothes down on the counter and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. He was standing in front of the sink, brushing his teeth roughly, concentrating on the task at hand. He wanted his teeth to look as nice as Evie’s, so he thought that the rougher he brushed, the whiter his teeth would be. 

“Calm down, you don’t have to brush so roughly. Just a little bit of pressure is enough,” Evie reminded him, gently holding his hand, showing him the correct amount of pressure to use. 

He let out a high pitched growl, which they had all come to understand as a signal that he was mad at himself and not at them. He rarely growled at Evie, Jay, and Mal, but he growled at himself a lot. The other three always tell him that he has no reason to be angry with himself, but he can’t help it. 

“Do you want some dry shampoo for today? We’ll probably have to wash it tonight, it’s been a few days and you’ve been able to get away with not showering because it’s been a pretty quiet few days,” Evie ran a hand through his hair, scratching his head. He leaned into her hand, enjoying the feeling of her short nails against his head; a better reaction to being touched than the previous night. She was the only one he trusted with his hair. 

He nodded once, telling Evie that he would deal with the dry shampoo. He finished brushing his teeth and washing his hands, then he started to undress, ignoring the fact that Evie was standing three feet away from him. Evie noted new scratches on Carlos’ waist that looked fairly recent, like they had appeared within the past day. 

When questioned about it, Carlos turned bright red and shook his head, trying to get out of the conversation before anymore questions were asked. Evie, on the other hand, did not want to let the topic go. She wanted to know what happened and she knew Carlos would tell her. She hated prodding, but she was worried about him.

Eventually, Carlos came clean and told her that he got scared the night before and thought she was mad at him, so he punished himself so no one else would have to. It sometimes worked with Cruella, so he thought that if he went ahead and punished himself for upsetting Evie, she wouldn’t take it out on him. He had taken one of Mal’s knives and made the cuts on his waist, not bothering to clean or cover them, thinking that he didn’t deserve that.

“Baby boy, you don’t have to punish yourself. I will never punish you, and neither will Jay or Mal. We love you so, so much and we never want to hurt you, and I wish I could make you see that,” Evie cupped his face in her hands, a frown on her usually smiling face. 

“I-I’m so-sorry,” Carlos whimpered, closing his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at Evie. He leaned into her and let her hold him for a few seconds before looking up at her with tears forming in his eyes. “Ca-Can I st- Can I st-stay here today?” 

With the events from the previous night and now this, Carlos was drained, both mentally and emotionally. He felt weak and didn’t feel like he’d be able to make it through a full day of classes. Evie nodded her head quickly, knowing that if Carlos didn’t want to go to school, he probably felt really bad.

“Of course you can; one of us will get all of your classwork and turn in your homework for you. Do you want someone to stay here with you?” Evie pulled away from Carlos and bent down slightly to look him in the eyes, he avoided eye contact, but nodded his head twice. 

She noticed that there were bags under his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot, like he’d been crying instead of sleeping. She gave him a sad look before standing up straight again and ruffling his hair. He put his clothes from the night before back on and left the bathroom, leaving Evie in the bathroom by herself. She took a deep breath and called out,

“M, can you come here please?” Evie called out into the bedroom. She assumed Jay was still downstairs, presumably with Carlos now, so she just called for Mal, but was thankful when both of them showed up in the doorway. “Oh good, you’re both here.”

“What’s up, princess?” Jay leaned up against the door frame, giving Evie a worried look; he was already worried about Carlos. 

Carlos had immediately disappeared after coming out of the bathroom and Jay pointed him downstairs to the breakfast he made, noting that he was still in his clothes from the previous night instead of a new outfit for the day. He had taken the stairs two at a time, trying to get up to Evie and Mal to see what was going on. 

“It’s Carlos, I’m worried about him. First he shuts down on me, then he sleeps in here without a change of clothes, now he doesn’t want to go to his classes. Something is going on. Do either of you want to stay with him today, just to keep an eye on him? I don’t want to leave him alone,” Evie looked from Jay to Mal, hoping that one of them would volunteer to stay. 

“I’ll stay with him,” Jay offered, quickly turning around and heading back downstairs to be with Carlos while he ate breakfast, leaving Mal and Evie to talk alone, figuring that they would come up with a plan to try and help their puppy.

When Jay got downstairs, Carlos was gone from the kitchen and was curled in a ball on his blankets in the living area. Jay noted that he had a half eaten waffle on a plate next to him. He sat next to Carlos, seeing that his eyes were still open. Jay kept his hands to himself, no matter how much he wanted to hold Carlos close to his chest until everything was okay again. 

“Hey, Pup, you okay?” Jay asked, holding his hand out in front of Carlos, so he could sniff Jay and make sure he was okay. Carlos nudged Jay’s hand with his nose and forehead. 

“M’okay,” Carlos mumbled, not looking up from his position on the floor, curling up into a tighter ball. Jay gave a small half smile, knowing that Carlos couldn’t see him, but just getting the verbal confirmation - even if it wasn’t completely true - was enough to lift Jay’s spirits. 

“Okay, well, Evie told me that you don’t want to go to classes, so I’m going to stay here with you. Is that okay?” Jay tapped Carlos on the nose, letting him know that he wanted his attention. Carlos gave a thumbs up in response before searching around for Jay’s body, whining as he tried to get him to lay down next to him. Jay happily obliged and let Carlos reposition himself to get comfortable. 

It took him a few minutes, but Carlos eventually was able to get into a comfortable position, holding onto the front of Jay’s shirt, able to smell him (and clean him if he was allowed to) without having to twist his body in any odd direction. 

Jay always denied the fact that he allowed Carlos to clean him, but he made sure that the body wash he used had no smell and would not taste weird if Carlos did decide to clean him shortly after he showered. Carlos loved cleaning Jay, but he felt special when Evie or Mal allowed him to clean them, just because they’re so picky about what touches them. 

While Carlos set about to licking Jay clean, Jay took to his phone, checking up on the girls and making sure they were picking up Carlos’ homework and turning in the assignments he’d already finished. He took pictures of Carlos hard at work, then a video, then took to texting the girls videos of Carlos cleaning him. 

Carlos was nearly finished cleaning Jay’s arms and chest, which would be the first time he was able to finish cleaning someone without being interrupted. He noticed that Jay wasn’t paying attention to him so he stopped over one of Jay’s collarbone and bit down on it before sucking. Jay gasped in surprise, noticing that Carlos was following what he had done to him a few nights prior, sucking a hickey right onto his collarbone. Jay grinned, loving that Carlos was a fast learner and also learned by application. 

“Fuck, C, that feels good,” Jay groaned, careful to place a hand on Carlos’s head, tangling his fingers in the boys hair, his other hand on the ground next to him, sort of to prop himself up a bit while Carlos worked. Jay made sure that he didn’t pull on Carlos’s hair. No matter how Carlos touched him, Jay knew that just being allowed to touch Carlos’ hair was a huge step for him.

“C. You gotta stop, I’m gonna lose all self control if you keep this up,” Jay said, breathlessly trying to stop Carlos. Carlos was all growls, pretending like he wasn’t going to listen to Jay, leaving playful nips on Jay’s shoulders and neck before positioning himself back on his blankets, acting like he didn’t have anything to do with the bruise on Jay’s neck or the tent in his sweatpants. He innocently curled up on Jay’s stomach, sighing in content as he listened to Jay’s breathing start to slow down and even out again.

∆

“Boys, what the hell are you doing in here? Have you even moved?” Mal asked, shock in her voice, noting that they were still (mostly) in the same position as this morning, Carlos’ abandoned waffle still laying nearby. 

She has witnessed Carlos move around at night until he was finally comfortable; she knew that he would spend a good ten minutes trying to get comfortable, sometimes getting off his bed and moving to his blankets on the ground. She knew how much energy Carlos put into being comfortable, so if he had done his full nighttime routine, he would be exhausted, especially since he didn’t rest well during the night.

“We moved, kinda, now hush. The puppy is asleep, finally,” Jay whispered, holding a finger up to his mouth and looking from Mal in the doorway to Evie walking in with papers in her hand. He held Carlos in his arms, Carlos’ arms resting up against his chest, his own arms wrapped around the boy protectively. Carlos was whimpering in his sleep, only calmed by Jay’s voice, whispering in his ear, reminding him that he was safe and that he was going to be okay. 

“I have all his homework and classwork that he missed today. I’ll go ahead and put them on his desk in your room,” Evie waved as she left, grabbing Mal’s hand and dragging her away alongside her, feeling like Jay and Carlos might want to be left alone for a little while longer. 

“Thanks, E,” Jay glanced up at Evie, still cradling Carlos in his arms, watching him finally be able to rest peacefully, watching his nose twitch periodically.

∆

_“No, no, absolutely not!” Cruella’s voice was a high shrill that caused Carlos to clamp his hands over his ears and whine. He hated loud noises, but he especially hated the pitch in his mother’s voice._

_All he had asked was to be allowed to walk in the market without the chain around his neck. He dropped to his knees, hands falling from covering his ears, to the floor to balance himself. She whipped the side of his face with the rusty chain, leaving a few scraps across his cheek. He yelped at the contact, hands flying back up to his cheek._

_Cruella had forced the chain around Carlos’s neck, yanking him closely. He gasped for breath, clawing at the chain around his throat, desperate for her to loosen her grip. He saw spots in his vision, waiting for it to go completely dark. It was always the worst, and she just ended up dragging him around the market because she choked him until he passed out, then got mad that he wasn’t walking with her._

Carlos woke with a start, clawing at his neck with his nails, trying to take deep breaths, only causing himself to hyperventilate more than he already was. He couldn’t find the chain, but he could feel it against his skin. The rust had a specific feeling against his neck, along with a distinct smell. A smell he could smell right now.   
Tears sprung to his eyes, he was whimpering and choking on his breaths as Jay woke up slowly, not realising what was going on right next to him. Carlos had left angry, red welts on his neck along with thin streaks of blood that trickled down his neck and onto the collar of his shirt. 

When Jay finally noticed Carlos in his panicked state, he started moving faster. He instinctively grabbed the boys hands, not caring if Carlos lashed out at him instead. He searched for his phone to text Evie and Mal and whispered to Carlos while doing so, not letting go of his wrists. 

Carlos was thrashing in Jay’s grasp, unaware of who was holding him. He was nearly screaming as the hands seemed to get tighter around his wrists. Carlos almost wished the grip was around his neck, because the tightening feeling had faded slightly. It still felt like the chain was around his neck, but at this point, it was just uncomfortable.

“Carlos, hey, it’s Jay. I need you to look at me,” Jay never let go on his hands, never tightened his grip, but never released any tension. Suddenly, Carlos was still, the thrashing stopped and he was staring up at Jay. 

Jay helped Carlos move to a sitting position, half covering him with a blanket, but Carlos was staring blankly past Jay, something that Evie called “dissociation.” Jay didn’t quite understand it, but he was trying. 

“Pup? Can you tell me what’s going on?” Jay asked, examining Carlos’ neck to make sure the injuries weren’t too bad. He held Carlos’ hands with one of his hands and finished typing out a text to Mal and Evie with the other.

**Text from: Jay:** _hey, can u guys come to the living room? also, can 1 of u pls bring first aid kit?_

Evie and Mal both read the text at the same time. They shared a worried look with each other and practically shot out of bed. Mal was able to find a simple first aid kit before Evie found the full size kit. She knew Evie would want as much first aid as she could get, but she also knew that the smaller kit wouldn’t stress Carlos out as much. 

By the time they got downstairs, Jay had Carlos pinned to the ground, Carlos had returned to his attempts to thrash around and try to get away from Jay - who still hadn’t managed to get any information out of Carlos. 

Carlos had more blood running down his neck than before, Jay had two canine-sized puncture wounds on his arm from Carlos lashing out at him. Jay desperately looked at the girls, hoping one of them could help him out. Evie found a sewing needle and turned to Mal, holding it out to her.

“Mal, do it. Quickly, please,” Evie’s voice cracked, refusing to watch as Mal spoke.

“Magic spindle, do not linger; make my victim prick a finger… Prick a finger, prick it deep, send this boy off to sleep.” Mal recited the spell quickly, poking Carlos with the needle, watching his body go limp. 

“What the fuck happened? What has gotten into him recently?” Mal sat down next to Carlos, looking at his neck. Evie kneeled over his body, getting supplies ready so she could clean his neck. 

Jay just shrugged his shoulders, allowing Mal to examine the puncture wounds on his arm. He couldn’t trust his voice, he felt like he might start crying. He wanted to help Carlos but he had no idea how to help the boy when he would just shut down instead of talking. He couldn’t blame Carlos, but it didn’t help anyone. Jay considered talking to Fairy Godmother about getting Carlos professional therapy. He knew Carlos would benefit from it, but would hate him for making him go. 

“Well, we need answers, this can’t keep happening,” Mal wiped her hands off on her pants, standing up quickly. “We need to go talk to Fairy Godmother about this.”  
Jay nodded, jumping up to stand next to Mal. Evie hesitated, staring at Carlos as he rested. She slowly stood up, walking over to her bag, pulling out a piece of paper.

_“Carlos, if you wake before we return, please do not freak out. We’ll be back very soon. No need to worry, okay? We love you, Evie, Jay, and Mal”_

Mal looked at the note over Evie’s shoulder, nodding that she liked it. She wrapped an arm around Evie, squeezing her gently. Jay had bent down and kissed Carlos on the forehead before heading to the door.

∆

“Come in,” Fairy Godmother’s voice sounded chipper from behind her door. The three teens awkwardly walked into her office, all looking somewhere that wasn’t directly at the headmistress. “What brings you three in today? Where’s Carlos?” The four were rarely seen without one another, aside from classes, so this came as a shock to her. 

“Actually, we wanted to talk to you about Carlos… He’s been acting weird. He’s been more aggressive than he usually is. He also has been regressing a lot more the past week or so, he shuts down a lot easier. We don’t know what to do,” Mal stepped forward, her eyes on Fairy Godmother. She sounded strong, but there were tears in her eyes. She was worried about Carlos, she wanted to make sure he was okay.

“Oh, oh dear. Well, there’s a number of reasons he could become aggressive, he could be ill or in pain. He could also be overwhelmed, or overstimulated,” she was careful with her words, unsure if she should stick to her knowledge of dog behaviour or mix it in with human behaviour. “As for the clear dissociation, that isn’t something that you three can necessarily ‘fix,’” she raised her hands in air quotes. “That’s something he’s going to have to work with a therapist on. You three can be there to help and support him, but it isn’t something that can be fixed with a spell or pill.”

“He won’t talk to us, how are we supposed to know if he’s in pain?” Jay blurted out, careful to not interrupt Fairy Godmother. “Can’t you just get a doctor to look him over?” Jay frowned, crossing his arms across his chest, gripping tightly to his shirt. 

“Well, yes. You can bring him down to the infirmary and the doctor or nurse would be happy to check him out,” Fairy Godmother kept her hands clasped in front of her, her lips tight as she examined each of the children’s faces, worried about their reactions.

“He can’t go down to the infirmary, we sort of used a spell on him because he was being aggressive and it was the first thing I thought of,” Evie said. She knew that they weren’t supposed to use magic unless it was important, but she thought this counted as important. Fairy Godmother didn’t comment about their use of magic.  
“I’ll see if we can spare a doctor to come look at him. Where is he?” she asked, picking up her phone.

“He’s in our place, in Evie's Four Hearts building,” Mal said quickly. She was wringing her hands together, a clear sign of nervousness from the girl. She didn’t do it often, but this was her puppy, she had to make sure that he was healthy and there was no underlying condition that made him act out. And, if there was, what could she do to help him? 

∆

The three teens led the doctor across the campus to their own “home,” Jay and Mal leading and Evie following right behind them, talking to the doctor about Carlos and his nervousness. She talked about his behaviour and what they consider normal. Mal had interjected with a short spiel about his dog-like behaviours and threatened the doctor if he made fun of their puppy.

“Hey E, where’s Carlos’s collar?” Jay asked as he reached Carlos, looking back at Evie, one eyebrow arched.

The others approached Carlos, who was curled into a ball on his blankets, almost exactly how they left him. He looked peaceful for once, it made Mal kind of sad, knowing that the only reason he’s sleeping nicely is because she used her magic on him. 

“So, is it just a general check up that you’re wanting me to do?” the doctor asked. All three teens nodded. Jay was sitting next to Carlos while Mal and Evie stood nearby. He set down his bag and opened it up. Evie spotted basic medical equipment and grabbed onto Mal’s hand. 

The last time they took Carlos to the doctor, he made snide remarks about the whining and Carlos bit him, resulting in the doctor hitting him with his stethoscope. Carlos had cried for half an hour after the event, barely calmed by an ice cream bar, which usually worked.

“E. Do you and M wanna go search for Carlos’ collar? I think it might be in our room,” Jay said, he was obviously scared, he didn’t want Mal and Evie to see that, though. He wanted to be there for Carlos, but he also wanted to make sure Carlos had his collar, it was odd seeing him without it. He knew it brought Carlos comfort, but he never wore it to bed. 

Both girls turned and headed towards the stairs, noting how Jay looked at them, silently pleading with them that they find it quickly. They split up after reaching the top of the stairs, Jay was notorious for forgetting where things were, so the chances of it being where Jay said it was, well, slim. 

Downstairs, the doctor started his examination, looking in Carlos’s nose, ears, eyes, and mouth first.

“Nose and eyes look good, nothing wrong there. His canine teeth are much sharper than a human’s should be, but otherwise, his mouth looks good. It looks like there might be some debris in his right ear, so I’m going to get a sample of that and we can test it to see if it’s bacteria or something else,” he paused and looked at Jay before he asked his next question. “Do you know if he has had fleas before?” the doctor sounded serious, so Jay actually stopped to think about it. When he couldn’t remember, he texted Mal and Evie to see if they knew, letting him know that they would have an answer. 

In the meantime, the doctor kept going with his examination, listening to Carlos breathe and listening to his heart beat. He told Jay that his lungs sounded good and his heart rate was normal.

“Jay, we found it!” Evie and Mal practically ran down the stairs, Evie held Carlos’s collar in her hand. Mal held his flea collar in one of her hands. “We also saw your text about fleas, I vaguely remember spotting Cruella screaming at him and forcing the collar over his head, but that was years ago. It sounded like she said that he had fleas,” Evie rambled, clearly nervous about the examination.


	2. Every Dog Has Its Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 - Originally combined with the first part, but I figured it might be easier to split it up.
> 
> TW: Same warnings apply

“Wh-What happened?” Carlos sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning and stretching. Mal rubbed his back, trying to not wince in pain as Carlos’s bony ass dug into her thigh. 

“Nothing happened, Pup. Everything is fine,” Jay held out a hand for Carlos to take, when he did, Jay kissed it gently. 

“I thought I heard someone other than you guys?” Carlos pouted. He felt out of the loop, wanting to be included. He shuffled off of Mal’s lap and sat on his blankets, staring at his lap instead of at the three people surrounding him. 

“You got aggressive with Jay, you wouldn’t stop so Mal had to spell you. We went to Fairy Godmother, she said that aggression can happen due to pain or illness. She also said that you could lash out due to overstimulation,” Evie said, looking at Carlos, her eyes were searching for Carlos’, trying to capture his attention and keep it. “Do you want to tell us what’s going on?” 

“Uh, maybe,” Carlos fiddled with the hem of his sleeves, avoiding talking until Mal pushed him to share what’s been happening, so he spilled everything. “My ears hurt a lot and it’s making loud noises hurt even more. I also had a nightmare and it seemed so real and I couldn’t force myself to believe that it wasn’t real, I couldn’t get out. Also, Chad has been being mean to me again and I don’t wanna go back to school.” Carlos spilled everything all at once, letting Jay, Mal, and Evie all digest the information before dropping a bombshell on them. 

“And, I-I think I l-love you guys…” Carlos looked from Mal to Evie, then looked down at the floor, not wanting to look at Jay, just in case he hated Carlos for saying that. Carlos didn’t want Jay to hate him for loving all three of them instead of just him. 

He quickly stood up on shaky legs and stumbled up the stairs to his room, not coming out for the rest of the evening, leaving Jay, Mal, and Evie downstairs to talk about what he had confessed. 

∆

“Hey pup, wake up,” Jay shook Carlos gently, trying to wake him up. It was still sort of early on a Saturday morning, so Carlos growled in his sleep, not wanting to wake up if he didn’t absolutely have to. It was a very non-threatening growl, so Jay knew he wasn’t serious. Jay dug his fingers into Carlos’s sides, tickling him mercilessly.   
Carlos’ eyes opened and he howled with laughter, shooting up in his bed, pushing Jay off of him. Jay took Carlos’ hands and pulled him out of bed. Carlos landed on his feet in front of Jay, who pulled him into a hug.

“Let’s get you ready, okay? We’re going somewhere today, and, I think you’ll really like it,” Jay gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before releasing him. Carlos leaned into him, not wanting to leave the warmth of Jay’s body. Jay laughed and ruffled Carlos’s hair. 

“Do we have to?” Carlos whined, rubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. He looked up at Jay, batting his eyes. He saw Jay falter for a moment before regaining composure and nodding at Carlos. 

Carlos stomped his feet in a pout and headed towards the bathroom to begin his morning routine which would, no doubt, take him at least ten minutes. Jay went to Carlos’ dresser and looked inside one of the drawers. Evie had put together full outfits for Carlos, knowing that he’d never be able to put together his own outfits. 

Carlos was colourblind, he could not see most colours, which would often end up mixing up colours and mismatching outfits. Evie hated it, so when she would do his laundry, she would fold his clothes and separate outfits ahead of time. 

“C? Where are you? Can I come in?” Jay knocked on the door, holding an outfit in his other hand. He heard the bathroom door unlock. Carlos never opened the door, he would just unlock it.

So, Jay opened the door, seeing Carlos standing at the mirror, brushing his teeth (gently, like Evie had shown him), in just his t-shirt and boxers. Jay bit his tongue, holding back from telling Carlos how cute he looked, even though he really wanted to. 

“Jay? Can I have my clothes, please?” Carlos held out his hands as soon as he was done brushing his teeth. Jay snapped out of his daze and handed over the clothes before turning and walking out of the bathroom quickly, leaving Carlos to get dressed by himself.

Not five minutes later, Carlos walked out of the bathroom, his hair still sticking up in twenty different directions, unable to be tamed. Jay rolled his eyes, but allowed Carlos to grab his jacket and phone and head to the door. Carlos sat politely by the door, waiting for Jay to finish getting ready. Once given the okay, Carlos bounded out of their room and down the stairs into the kitchen, where Mal and Evie were sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast, talking softly. 

“Jay says we’re going somewhere!” Carlos sat down across from Evie and was practically vibrating in his chair. Mal and Evie shared a smile and laughed softly, loving how happy he was. Carlos’ face fell, thinking the girls were making fun of him. 

He immediately became sad, his bottom lip quivered and his eyes welled up with tears, unsure of how he should be reacting. He didn’t understand why Mal and Evie reacted the way they did. He didn’t think they’d make fun of him, but then again, they could be.

“No, puppy, we aren’t making fun of you,” Mal practically read his mind, slipping out of her chair and walking over to Carlos, wrapping her arms around him. Carlos pushed away from her, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“Puppy? Baby boy? Hey, we weren’t making fun of you. We were just happy to see you so excited about where Jay’s taking you because we know that you’ll love it,” Mal attempted to get him to smile again. She didn’t try and put her arms around him again, but she did try to ruffle his hair, which he allowed, but only for a moment. 

“Alright pup, say bye to the girls, we’ve got places to explore!” Jay’s keys were jingling in his hand. Carlos perked up and hugged them both at once before running over to stand next to Jay with a smile on his face, looking up at him expectantly. 

∆

“Where are we going?” Carlos asked for the tenth time. Each time he asked, Jay responded with the same answer ‘a surprise.’ He had stuck Carlos in the backseat, he claimed it was for safety reasons, but now he was regretting it (mostly because he didn’t want Carlos to see their destination on the map Jay had pulled up on his phone). Maybe the passenger seat would’ve been better.

They pulled into a parking lot and Carlos struggled with his seat belt before untangling himself and tumbling out of the car, landing at Jay’s feet. He got up quickly and looked around, spotting the sign on the front of the store, ‘Nose to Tail Care.’ Carlos squealed and looked at Jay with a grin on his face. 

The familiar jingle of his collar wasn’t heard as Carlos bounced around and it made him stop dead in his tracks. His hands flew to his neck and he looked up at Jay, pointing to his bare neck.

“Jay, I don’t have my collar,” Carlos paused, staring up at Jay, his eyes watering quickly. “Or my flea collar, momma’s gonna be mad,” Carlos broke down in tears, crumbling to his knees at Jay’s feet. He let out a low growl and covered his ears, pulling at his ears before grabbing fistfuls of his hair, yanking and tugging until Jay bent down next to him, tapping one of his fingers.

“I’m calling Evie right now, okay? The girls will bring over both collars as fast as they can, okay?” Jay typed Evie’s phone number into his phone, waiting for a response. He got it quickly, explaining that Carlos wasn’t doing so well without his collar, making sure to mention his flea collar, too. 

“Mommy’s mad. She’s so mad at me. I’m sorry, mommy,” Carlos was curled into a tight ball on the ground, sobbing into his arms, apologising profusely to a woman who wasn’t there, a woman who never cared about him. 

Jay was careful in lifting Carlos off the ground and setting him in the back of the car. Almost as soon as Jay set him down, Carlos let out a yelp, followed closely with a near blood curdling scream. Jay startled at the noise, looking over Carlos, careful not to touch him.

“Pup? Can you hear me? Evie’s on her way. She’ll be here in less than five minutes,” Jay whispered. Carlos didn’t respond, he had his hands over his ears, begging Cruella to not pull on his ears, to not burn them, to not hurt him. He was sobbing uncontrollably and Jay couldn’t do anything to help him without further freaking him out. 

By the time Evie arrived, Carlos had wedged himself into the farthest corner of the trunk, shaking - but no longer crying. Jay sat on the other side, softly singing to Carlos, doing what he could to bring Carlos back to reality and not to his mother. 

“Jay, I’ve got his collar and his flea collar. I didn’t know if you wanted it or not, as soon as you said Carlos needed his collar, I kind of tuned you out, sorry,” Evie handed over both collars as she apologised. She looked over at Carlos and frowned, hating to see him in such a state. 

She decided that she would start keeping track of every time Carlos broke down or got aggressive. There had to be a pattern happening and she was determined to figure out what it was and do everything she could to help him.

“Hey C? I’ve got your collar, do you want me to put it on, or do you want to put it on by yourself?” Jay asked, leaning down so he was closer to Carlos. He kept his voice to a whisper, still unsure of how Carlos would react to anything louder. 

When there wasn’t a response, Jay turned to their squeeze method, it let Jay know that Carlos was present, and it let Carlos communicate without having to use his voice, especially when he was feeling bad. He slowly slipped his hand into Carlos’, waiting for a reaction.

“Pup, one squeeze for you putting it on by yourself, two squeezes for me putting it on for you,” Jay bargained with Carlos, who immediately gave two weak squeezes. Jay nodded and moved slowly, getting closer to Carlos, allowing Carlos to get familiar with the body above him. 

Carlos sat up, sniffling, his whole body shaking, and hung his head. He refused to give Jay any eye contact, embarrassed by his behaviour. Jay, on the other hand, was trying to get Carlos to look at him, to give him the okay to touch him. He quietly asked if he was allowed to touch Carlos, seeing Carlos nod his head, but he didn’t look up. Jay sighed and slipped the collar around Carlos’ neck, making sure he didn’t tighten it too much. 

“Do you want your flea collar?” Jay asked, seeing Carlos nod again. It made Jay sad to see him so attached to the flea collar, maybe he could convince Carlos to let Evie make him a new one, cutting ties with his mother through any dog related item. 

∆

The two boys sat in the trunk of Jay’s car for another half an hour while Carlos calmed down and was able to talk about what happened. It took Carlos a little while to talk about it, but he made sure that he would explain everything. He had to start over when Evie returned with Mal as well as ice cream for everyone. 

“You can just give us a condensed version,” Mal said, licking her ice cream cone, giving Carlos her full attention. Carlos nodded and took a breath before starting again. 

“I noticed I didn’t have my collar on and I felt bad because Evie worked really hard on it, but then I noticed I didn’t have my mo- Cruella’s flea collar on and I don’t know what happened, I think I blacked out…” Carlos was slowly licking his own ice cream, trying to remember what happened. Jay froze, Carlos didn’t remember pleading with Cruella to not hurt him, he didn’t remember anything after noticing he wasn’t wearing his collars.

“Hey, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re okay and Cruella isn’t here to hurt you. None of us are going to hurt you or let anyone else hurt you, okay? I promise” Jay held out his hand, pinkie finger extended. Carlos wrapped his own pinkie around Jay’s, solidifying the promise. 

Even after they stopped talking about Carlos’ episode, Jay couldn’t stop thinking about how Carlos pleaded with Cruella to not burn his ears. It made sense, seeing how sensitive Carlos was about people touching his ears. Jay always made sure that he didn’t accidentally brush up against Carlos’ ears when he would run his hands through his hair. 

In the few times that Jay looked closely at Carlos’ ears, he noticed that they were lighter than the rest of his skin, slightly raised scars littered both ears along with his collar-bones and hips. Those were the main homes for his burn scars, and he always made sure that Carlos didn’t feel bad about them.

They sat in silence until everyone finished their ice cream, then they headed inside the pet store. Carlos hung back with Jay while Evie and Mal went ahead to find Carlos a surprise gift. Carlos brushed his hand against Jay’s, hoping Jay understood that he wanted to hold hands. Jay smiled, looking down at Carlos, who had a small smile on his own face, Jay interlocking their fingers as they walked inside. Carlos gripped back tightly, suddenly becoming nervous about being in the store.

“Hello, welcome to Nose to Tail Care, is there anything I can help you find for your four-legged friend?” the chipper employee asked as they entered the store. Jay shook his head and gave a polite smile before pulling Carlos over to the dog bed section.

“I think it’s time we get you a proper bed so you don’t sleep on just a couple of blankets,” Jay squeezed Carlos’ hand, watching Carlos stare at the mountains of comfy beds waiting to be tested. His mouth dropped open, excited about the possibility of his very own bed. Of course he had the mattress, but this was his very own bed, one that he picked out himself (with Jay’s help, of course).

After a few minutes of feeling every bed he could reach, Carlos pointed at a bed just out of his reach, so Jay pulled it down and set it on the ground for Carlos to lay on. Carlos spread his body out on it and then curled up in the very middle, a smile on his face. He loved it, and Jay figured he’d have a hard time getting Carlos off the bed. 

“Okay pup, is that the one you like best or do you want to keep searching?” Jay asked, sneaking pictures of Carlos curled up on the bed. He loved the way that Carlos immediately looked at home on the bed, comfortable and peaceful. 

“I like this one!” Carlos exclaimed, shooting up and wrapping his arms around Jay in a tight hug. “I love it.” He looked up at Jay, giving him as much eye contact as he could force himself to give. 

“Alrighty, let’s go find the girls and check out, then we can head home,” Jay picked up the bed and carried it while Carlos skipped ahead and sniffed around the store, loving the smells of other dogs that had been there before him, then he was picking up hints of perfume. Soon it was all he could smell and he wanted to gag. He plugged his nose and turned towards Jay, trying to get him to hurry up. His eyes were watering as he found the source of the smell; a woman standing with her small dog, looking at treats. He gagged, looking around to find a different way to get to the front of the store.

They quickly found Mal and Evie, already checked out and waiting for the boys. Carlos stood outside with the girls to try and get away from the perfume. Mal had spent five minutes explaining to him that his nose was extremely sensitive to smell, and that’s why he had to use unscented body wash and shampoo. 

She told Carlos that she had noticed it a couple months back when they had gone to a floral shop and Carlos couldn’t stand all the smells and had to wait outside. She called it “hyperosmia” which Carlos didn’t understand, but he didn’t care, he was quickly distracted by Jay exiting the store with his new bed in his hands. 

“Meet back at the house?” Evie looked at Jay, her car keys in her hand. Jay nodded, leading Carlos back to his car. Mal ruffled Carlos’ hair, kissing his cheek before getting in Evie’s car. Evie did the same, kissing his other cheek, then attempting to fix his hair, which - of course - didn’t work.

∆

Carlos sat in the backseat again, looking back into the trunk every couple minutes to look at his new bed. He had a grin on his face and was practically bouncing up and down where he sat. Jay watched him from the rearview mirror, happy to see his puppy in a better mood. 

“I saw Mal and Evie get something at the store, what did they get?” Carlos asked suddenly, catching Jay off-guard. Jay stopped at the next stop light and looked back at Carlos, who was sitting in the backseat, his legs folded up on the seat.

“No idea,” he responded, turning back around to hide a smirk, watching Carlos look out the window of the car, taking in all the sights. Carlos didn’t seem too bothered by not knowing, but he would know soon enough. Jay rolled the window down halfway, letting Carlos get a cool breeze on his face, which Carlos loved. He loved the wind on his face and the smells in the air. Jay loved seeing Carlos in such a good mood, especially after the events from earlier.

∆

“Pup!” Evie and Mal both greeted him as he threw open the door, bouncing inside, followed closely by Jay, who was holding Carlos’ new bed. Carlos stopped in front of Mal and Evie, suddenly very serious.

“What did you guys get at the store? I wanna know,” Carlos whined. He definitely was a nosy puppy, but they all loved that about him. Mal ruffled his hair, watching Evie walk over to the table and grabbing a small bag, pulling out a box. 

“Here you go, go ahead and open it,” Evie waited for Carlos to hold out his own hands to take the small box. Carlos’ eyes widened and he looked from the box, to Evie, to Mal, to Jay, then back to the box.

“For me?” he asked, his eyes sparkling. He looked back up at Evie, seeing her nod her head yes. Carlos held out his hands and gently took the box and opened it up. “What is it?” He moved it around in his hands, examining it closely.

“It’s a tag for your collar, pup! It’s got your name on one side,” Mal flipped it to one side, showing Carlos that his name was printed on the tag. “On the other side it has my name and phone number, Jay’s name and phone number, and Evie’s name and phone number.” 

She flipped it to the other side, showing him that their names and numbers were printed on it. Carlos smiled, a small, happy whine emitting from his throat. He tackled the girls into a hug, licking their faces as much as he could before they stopped him. 

When they didn’t, he whined again, nuzzling his face into their bodies. Jay smiled at the little dog-pile on the floor. Jay took out his phone and quickly snapped pictures of the three of them snuggled closely together. Evie and Mal rarely let Carlos lick them, but they loved seeing how happy it made him, so they found it hard to say no to him, especially when he started whining. 

“You’ll have to get Jay in on this too, the tag was his idea,” Mal whispered to Carlos, staring directly at Jay with a wicked grin. Carlos shot up and attempted to tackle Jay, but Jay was stronger than Carlos was and was able to hold Carlos in a hug instead of going down like Mal and Evie had. 

“Nice try, pup,” Jay laughed, ruffling Carlos’ hair. “Do you want to put the tag on your collar now?” Carlos nodded his head, wiggling out of Jay’s hug and turning around to allow Jay to undo his collar for him. 

∆

“Come now, Carlos, it’s about time we get you cleaned up,” Evie held out her hand and waited for Carlos to take it. Part of her knew that he wouldn’t, but she tried anyway. She watched as Carlos shrunk into the couch, whimpering like she threatened to beat him. It never got easier, no matter how much positive reinforcement she used. 

“Don’t wanna,” Carlos muttered, leaning into Mal for safety. Mal only laughed, standing up and pulling him up after her. He yelped in surprise, landing near her, only for Evie to take hold of his free hand. 

They both pulled Carlos into the bathroom with Carlos trying to scrape his heels against the floor in a desperate attempt to stop them. It was no use; together, Mal and Evie were stronger than him, so Carlos gave up. He let out a sigh and dropped his full weight to the floor, not helping at all.

“Baby boy doesn’t want a bath, but I know what will give him an incentive to behave,” Mal crouched down next to Carlos, pulling out a small piece of chocolate and unwrapping it and dangling it in front of his face. Carlos sat straight up and snatched the chocolate from Mal’s fingers and shoved it in his mouth, not giving her a second to react. 

“You ate it, now you must behave,” Evie picked him up from the floor and set him on his feet. “Get undressed and I’ll make sure the water is warm for you. Bath or shower?” Evie turned around and turned the water on and let it start to heat up. Carlos whined at the words. 

“No?” Carlos tried, slipping his shirt over his head before glancing over at Evie, who was laughing quietly and shaking her head.

“Sorry, pup, that’s not how this works. We’ll shower because we need to do something about your hair, it’s getting quite long. This way we can clean it,” Evie had walked over to Carlos and combed her fingers through his hair. She had a point, his curls had gotten longer, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted it cut yet. “Finish getting undressed and then join me.”

Carlos sighed, knowing it would be unwise to fight against Evie, knowing Mal was nearby as well. He knew that Evie would be gentle with him, but he also knew that Evie was currently the enemy. She wanted to get him wet and Jay never did it, not after the first time. 

Even though he knew she was the enemy, he finished undressing himself and peered into the shower, seeing Evie waiting for him to join her. He cautiously took a step in, feeling his foot hit the water. He whimpered at the sudden warmth, taking his foot out, only for it to become cold. He bit his lip then bit the bullet, fully stepping into the shower, allowing Evie to guide him under the stream of water. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened last night? About what you told us?” Evie asked, letting water cascade down Carlos’ back. She moved him slightly so the water got on his head, getting his hair wet. 

“I dunno…” Carlos refused to look back at Evie, not wanting to know if she was angry with him or not. Evie didn’t push him, but she did continue talking.  
“You told me, Mal, and Jay that you loved us. Did you mean it?” Evie asked, clarifying the topic, just in case there was any confusion. She noticed Carlos gulp. He was staring straight down.

“I - uh - I,” Carlos stuttered, his thoughts tumbling out through his lips, trying to form a coherent sentence. “Yes.” He finally got out, still looking down, not wanting to turn and face Evie. 

“Pup?” Evie tapped him on the shoulder, hoping he would turn towards her. When he started to turn around, she continued, “I want you to know that we all love you, no matter what. If you love us romantically, that’s okay. If you love us platonically, that’s okay, too. Do you know if it’s romantic or not?” 

Carlos paused, trying to use his context clues to figure out what ‘platonically’ meant. He came to the conclusion that it was the opposite of romantic, so he nodded.

“Yeah, it’s - uh - it’s romantic,” Carlos took a deep breath, feeling Evie work the shampoo into his hair. When her hands stalled for a second, he closed his eyes, expecting to be hit or screamed at. 

He slowly opened one eye when the abuse never came. He searched for Evie and found her still standing next to him, a small smile on her face. He opened his other eye and fully turned towards her, watching as she took a step towards him, her arms open to hug him. He accepted the hug and let Evie squeeze him until he couldn’t breathe. 

She let him go, motioning to him to come under the stream of water so she could rinse out the shampoo. He followed her lead, glad that this went well. He could only hope that it would go as smoothly with Mal and that Jay wouldn’t hate him forever for not only loving him. 

“Pup, are you alright?” Evie asked. She had turned the water off after she finished washing his body and usually he would either shake off all the water from his body or jump out of the shower and shake off. When he did neither, Evie was immediately concerned, holding onto his hand and rubbing her thumb over his fingers. 

“I’m okay, jus’ thinking,” Carlos replied, stepping out of the shower and pushing his body into the towel Evie held out for him. She went about drying him off and he stood silently, waiting for her to give him the okay to shake his head to get the excess water out of his hair. 

“Carlos, are you sure you’re okay, you aren’t acting like you,” Evie wrapped Carlos up in the towel, tilting his head up to look at her. She had a calm demeanour, she let Carlos know that she was safe to talk to. She knew that he needed that reassurance. Carlos could only nod, afraid to speak, for fear that he might start crying. 

They stayed in the bathroom for a little while longer, letting Carlos calm himself down while Evie reassured him that none of them hated him, and that they loved him very, very much. Carlos ended up crying for a few minutes, pressed up against Evie, his entire body shaking - whether or not because he was cold was a mystery. 

∆ 

“Pup, c’mere, let me put your collar back on,” Jay was laying on the couch, fiddling with his collar, staring at the tag he’d put on it. Carlos ran over to the couch, standing in front of Jay, waiting to feel the weight of his collar around his neck. Jay stood up and gently placed the collar around, making sure it was tight enough for Carlos. 

“We’re still going to cut your hair, Carlos, it’s getting long and unruly,” Evie called from the kitchen. She had grabbed a bar of chocolate as well as a Reese’s cup for Carlos, as a reward for behaving in the shower and a treat for while she cut his hair. 

Carlos turned around and silently pleaded with Jay to save him. Jay just smiled and gave him a gentle push towards the kitchen where Evie had set up a chair for Carlos to sit in, not that he’d stay sitting the whole time. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t cut all of it off, only as much as you want me to, okay?” Evie gave Carlos a verbal confirmation and ruffled his hair. He sat down in the chair and allowed Evie to cover him and comb through his hair before starting to cut. 

Jay stood nearby, knowing that Carlos was notorious for getting up and wandering around while Evie tried to cut his hair. He stood by the counter, ready to give Carlos smalls pieces of chocolate for behaving. 

“I’m sleepy,” Carlos whined, leaning back to look at Evie. She had stepped back to see what she still needed to fix and Carlos took that as an opportunity to wiggle around and get his jittery movements out. Jay clicked his tongue and got Carlos’s attention, tossing him a piece of chocolate. Carlos caught it and smiled in Jay’s direction, waiting to see if he’d get another piece. He did. 

“Okay, okay, we’re almost done, just stay still for a couple more minutes,” Evie situated Carlos one more time and started to trim his bangs. He closed his eyes and held onto the sides of the chair, nervous about whether or not Evie would also cut his face. She never did, but it still worried him. 

“Puppy, she’s all done, you can open your eyes,” Jay rubbed Carlos’s arm, letting him know it was okay to get down from the chair. When Carlos opened his eyes, he saw that Jay had the rest of the chocolate bar in his hand and Evie was nowhere to be found. 

He hopped out of the chair, grabbed the chocolate and ran into the living room, quickly curling up on his new bed, cradling the chocolate in his arms like Jay was going to come take it away from him. Jay smiled, watching as the boy snapped the chocolate bar in half and stare at the two halves in his hands before handing Jay the bigger half.

“Why thank you, pup,” Jay took the chocolate and took a bite of it, watching as Carlos tried to shove his piece entirely in his small mouth. He smiled at the boy, watching as he continued to get his chocolate into his mouth. Carlos quickly managed to fit the rest of the chocolate into his mouth, smiling at Jay from around the sweet.

“Boys, I hate to interrupt the fun, but Jay,” Evie stood in the entryway to the living room, looking cleaned up a bit, looking at Jay. “Jay, you to shower, we have a guest coming over tomorrow and I know you won’t shower in the morning.” Carlos giggled at his boyfriend, who then dared to roll his eyes at Evie. Carlos gasped, his mouth wide open, shocked that Jay could just disrespect her like that. 

Jay got up from next to Carlos, kissing his forehead and promising to be back quickly. Evie took Jay’s place next to Carlos by his bed, taking out her phone and texting someone. Carlos wiggled his body so he was closer to Evie, wanting to cuddle, but not wanting to ask, just in case she didn’t want to. Then suddenly, he sat straight up, his back rigid - he was staring at Evie with a confused expression.

“What’s wrong, baby boy?” Evie set her phone down next to her, looking at Carlos with the same motherly concern that he’d been getting a lot recently.

“You smell bad,” Carlos said, his entire face blank as he tried to figure out what was wrong with the situation. He remembered showering with Evie, remembering that she also cleaned herself when she cleaned him. “Different.”

“It’s probably my new perfume, baby, it’s nothing bad,” Evie explained, holding out her wrist for Carlos to sniff the area that she applied some of her perfume to. He slowly leaned over and sniffed, trying to hold back a gag at the overwhelming smell. 

“I can’t - I can’t,” Carlos scrambled off his bed and ran up the stairs, leaving Evie sitting down by herself without fully explaining what went wrong. 

Carlos ran up the stairs to the room Evie shared with Mal; he burst through the door, demanding to smell Mal. Mal was lying in her bed, curled up with a book, clearly getting ready to go to sleep. She tried to protest, but Carlos was adamant about smelling her.

He was incredibly disappointed to learn that she smelled exactly like Evie, just a little bit less. He growled to himself, whirling around and stomping out of the room and into his own room. 

Carlos paced around his room, whining at no one as he did. Evie and Mal did not come to see if he was okay, he was alone for probably another twenty minutes while Jay showered. Carlos loved how Jay smelled, that would be something familiar that he could deal with, and hopefully Jay would want to cuddle because Carlos had an _itch_ to be held and protected. He tried with Evie, then with Mal - neither of them smelled familiar, so he couldn’t. 

He continued to pace, smalls whines and whimpers slipping through his lips periodically. He wanted his bed, he wanted Jay; Hell, at this point, he’d take Evie or Mal back. Mostly, he wanted the safety of familiarity back. 

The shower stopped and Carlos paused his pacing and perked up. No running water meant Jay should be out in a few minutes, eight (if Carlos remembered correctly). He walked to the door to the bedroom and waited anxiously for Jay to come in. He whined quietly, hearing the bathroom door open and close again. He bounced up and down, listening to Jay’s footsteps come nearer. His whining got louder when he heard the door knob turn, practically flinging himself onto Jay when he stepped in.

“Hi pup, miss me?” Jay laughed and ruffled Carlos’ hair. Happily, Carlos licked at Jay’s neck before taking a heavy breath in, not being able to wait any longer for the familiarity of someone he loved. Carlos stilled, pushing Jay’s head back away from his own.

“Down!” Carlos wiggled in Jay’s arms, wanting away from him too. Jay gently placed Carlos back on his own feet before getting shoved out of the room. He heard the door lock and then Carlos’ heavy breathing and whining from directly behind it. Jay stumbled down the stairs, quickly finding Evie sitting on the couch, nose buried in a book.

“Carlos just locked me out of our room… E? Any idea what’s going on?” Jay asked. He tapped Evie’s book to try to get her attention. She responded without looking up. 

“You smell different to him. He did the same thing to me, too,” Evie muttered, putting her bookmark in the book before finally closing it and looking up at Jay, dried tears stained her face, leaving marks where they ruined her makeup. Jay stood rigid in front of her, unable to move, feeling locked in place. He couldn’t shake the thought of Carlos not wanting to be near him because he smelled different. 

“What’s new? I didn’t change my body wash! It’s the same as it’s always been! I didn’t change my shampoo and conditioner, either,” Jay was on the brink of tears, he hated when Carlos didn’t want to be near him, especially when it was something as simple as how he smelled. 

“The recipe must’ve changed, go put on some of your cologne, the one that Carlos loves. He’ll unlock the door for you, bring him his bed too. I heard him whining at the top of the stairs, maybe he’ll want that too. Offer to put a very small spritz of the cologne on the bed, he might even want it to smell like you. Let him smell you and see if you’re good to enter, if he lets you in, apologise, even though it wasn’t your fault,” Evie explained. Jay silently listened, nodding his head and grabbing the bed and nearly dashing up the stairs. 

Jay placed the bed outside of the room he and Carlos shared before slipping into the bathroom to apply some cologne before quickly returning to the bedroom door. He called out to Carlos, waiting for a response.

“Carlos? I have your bed, can we talk?” Jay knocked quietly, hearing the newly familiar sound of Carlos’ collar and tag move from behind the door. He heard the door unlock and a shuffling from the other side. Then there was silence. Carlos didn’t tell Jay it was okay to come in, but then again, he never did. 

Jay opened the door slightly and held out his hand - the one that smelled vaguely of his cologne. Nervously, Carlos moved closer to Jay, slowly sniffing him and then whining as Jay’s familiar scent filled his nose. There was silence for a few seconds and then he dropped to the floor on shaky legs, quiet sobs racked through his whole body. He let himself completely drop to the floor, whimpering loudly, wanting Jay right next to him, holding him tightly.

“Carlos?” 

No answer.

“Pup? I’m coming in,” Jay opened the door slowly, not knowing where Carlos was, but as soon as he set eyes on Carlos, he was right next to him, slowly running his hand through the curls. 

“‘M s-sorry,” Carlos hiccupped and tried to grab ahold of Jay’s tank top. Jay moved his arms to wrap around Carlos’ slender frame, making sure he only moved one of his hands at a time, watching as Carlos’ breathing steadied. 

“I’m not mad at you, sweetheart, I’m just worried about you, that’s all,” Jay pushed Carlos back, cupping one of his cheeks, brushing a thumb over stray tears. “What’s going on?” Jay’s voice was soft, wanting Carlos to feel completely safe with him.

“I…” Carlos paused, searching for the right words to string together. He ended up shaking his head and hiding in the crook of Jay’s arm. He felt completely vulnerable for the first time in a long time with someone that wasn’t Evie and he didn’t know what to do. 

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me everything. Can you at least tell me what happened just then?” Jay murmured into Carlos’ hair. He gave him a quick kiss, running his hand through the boy’s hair again. Carlos shuddered and took a heavy, shaky breath before sitting up again.

“Di-Different smells, I-I didn’t rec-rec -” Carlos took a breath. “I didn’t recognise how anyone smelled. It was wrong, nothing felt okay.” He looked down, moving off of Jay and slowly crawling over to the door frame where his bed was. 

Instead of grabbing it and bringing it into the bedroom, he just crawled on top of it, spinning around in circles until he deemed himself comfortable enough to lay down. Jay sighed, still sitting on the floor near him, wanting to come closer, but wanting to give Carlos his space. Carlos whined and tried to grab at Jay. Jay was hyper-aware of the noises Carlos made, so he was right there next to his boyfriend in seconds, sitting directly next to the bed, holding one of Carlos’ hands in his own, watching as he fell asleep, his nose twitching in his sleep. 

∆

“Good morning, pup. E says that we have to get up and look presentable, so let’s get you ready to start the day,” Jay smiled at the boy laying nearby. Carlos was not a morning person, everyone knew that, so when Carlos whined as Jay helped him up, all he got in return was a chuckle and a kiss on top of his head. 

“Boys, I hope you’re almost ready, our guest should be here any moment now,” Evie called through the bathroom door. She could hear Carlos’ growling from the other side, she knew she had to get to them. “Boys? Are you okay?” Evie tried to open the door to get to them. 

Locked. 

“Jay, Carlos? One of you unlock the door, now,” Evie demanded, waiting to hear the click of the lock. There were whispers from behind the door and then it unlocked and opened to reveal half-naked Jay and Carlos almost fully dressed. Carlos was still missing his shirt, but his face was red and Jay had a grin on his face that told Evie that nothing was actually wrong.

“What the hell are you two even doing?” Evie asked, crossing her arms over her chest, unable to stay mad at them, they were just having fun and Evie interrupted it, that’s all there was to it.

“Nothing, Eves,” Jay said, and at the same time, Carlos supplied, “Jay was tickling me, he made me promise not to tell you because he knew you’d get mad at him for riling me up because I always end up biting.” 

Evie’s eyes narrowed at Jay, who shrunk back against the wall, smiling sheepishly at Evie, trying to be cute like Carlos did when he got in trouble. Unfortunately for Jay, it didn’t work for him as it did for Carlos.

“Finish getting dressed and meet us downstairs, our guest should be here soon,” Evie threatened, pointing a finger at Jay, poking his chest before turning around and leaving the two boys in the bathroom alone again. Jay let out a nervous huff of laughter, turning to Carlos, who slipped his shirt on and left the bathroom so Jay could finish getting ready. 

Carlos always sat obediently at the doors, waiting until someone told him he was allowed to go. The only place he didn’t do it was at school because some of the students had made fun of him. Jay, on the other hand, found the behaviour adorable and it worked as an incentive for him to move faster when getting ready. 

“Do you want your collar, pup?” Jay asked, ruffling Carlos hair, feeling him nod under his touch. Jay smiled, tapping Carlos’ chin, telling him to lift his head up a bit. Carlos did as he was told, staring up at Jay through his eyelashes. 

“Thank you,” Carlos whispered, diverting his gaze back to the ground, staring at his feet, his cheeks red. Jay kissed the top of his head and opened their bedroom door, allowing Carlos to walk out ahead of him, bounding down the stairs, sniffing the air, quickly figuring out that Evie made chocolate chip pancakes. He moved faster, heeding Jay’s warning to slow down and his imitations of Evie “lest he hurt himself.” 

He was standing by the table, watching as Evie and Mal started setting stacks on pancakes on the plates in front of them. He licked his lips, eyeing the plate closest to him, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, whining as Mal took it away. She set it down at the place where Carlos usually sat, his eyes followed the plate and when she set it down he had to forcibly stop himself from whining louder than before. 

“Carlos, come sit down and you can eat breakfast,” Mal saw the pained look on Carlos’ face and smiled, she knew that look, it was his ‘please, please feed me now! I might die without food’ look; and he always got what he wanted, so she let him start eating before everything was ready.

Carlos clapped his hands together and squealed in delight. Mal laughed and ruffled his hair. He blushed and turned to Mal, wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing his face into her chest. She kissed the top of his head before pulling away from her, telling him to go eat his pancakes before they got cold. Carlos nodded obediently, sitting down in his chair and picking up one of the pancakes with his hands.

“Baby boy, your hands are going to be all sticky if you keep eating with your hands. Ask Mal or Jay to help you with a knife and fork,” Evie glanced at Carlos, and upon noticing his sad face, frowned at him. “I know you hate using utensils, but I know you hate when your hands are sticky even more.”

Carlos whined, having put the pancake back down and picking up his knife and fork, messily trying to cut into his food on his own. Mal glared at Evie before going over to Carlos to help him. She stood behind him, holding his hands and guiding the cuts through the pancakes. His face was hot and he squirmed in his chair; he could feel her hair on the nape of his neck, then he could hear her soft humming in his ear as she stood there, otherwise silent as she helped him cut. 

Jay sat in the chair next to Carlos, stealing small pieces of Carlos’ pancakes when he wasn’t paying attention. Mal was taking up most of his attention, singing to him as she slowly stopped helping and let him take over control of how his pancakes got cut. Jay watched it all, smiling at the way Carlos leaned into Mal as she sang, his eyes were closed until Mal’s hands slipped off of his. 

All too suddenly there was a knock on the door. The four teenagers jumped at the sudden noise, Carlos jumped out of his chair - his cutlery clattering on his plate loudly - and ran to the door, bouncing up and down and shaking his butt as if he was wagging his tail. He was standing straight up, alert and waiting for Evie, Jay, or Mal to come open the door. 

Evie reached the door first, unlocking the door and turning to Jay and Mal - both teens standing on either side of Carlos - nodding before she opened the door, revealing the guest: a doctor. Carlos flattened himself against the wall, a growl rising in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> okay. so, the spell i used, i'm pretending like you can use it that way, leave me alone.
> 
> i also didn’t explore mal’s relationship with carlos as much as i wanted to so, look forward to that 
> 
> also: if there’s anything that you would like to see in a third part, let me know in the comments!!


End file.
